Fashion, Beauty, DIY: You Put it On

Which Urban Decay NAKED Palette is Best for You?

The Urban Decay Naked palettes are two things. Amazing! and Expensive. If you are looking to buy just one of these palettes, or trying to decide which one to start with, hopefully this will help make your decision a little easier!

The original Naked Palette is mostly shimmery neutral colors, and 2 matte browns. At the end you can see it has a shimmery black and gray. I love this palette because you can easily use it for everyday makeup with the pretty neutral browns and gold, but because there are darker browns, gray and black, you can also create a dramatic, dark smokey eye. Overall, I would say this palette is definitely heavy on the brown side and best for a wide range of neutral looks. Check out my favorite Naked tutorials here!

The Naked and Naked 2 palettes are very similar. It also has mostly shimmery shadows, and 2 matte shades. A great feature of the Naked 2 palette is that it has similar neutral shade to the Naked palette, but slightly different (although both Naked and Naked 2 have Half Baked, which I love!), but it also has some colors that are similar to the rosey gold shades of the Naked 3 palette. This palette has such a wide range of colors that you could create almost any neutral to smokey look you want. Check out my favorite Naked 2 tutorials here.

I was on the fence about buying this palette or not. I went back and forth until I walked into Ulta and saw it. Once I started swatching it on my hand, I informed my husband that I NEEDED it for Christmas. I was back and forth because this palette is heavy on the rosey pink shades. It also has some gold and dark browns, no black or grays. Although there are great smokey eye looks people have created using this palette, it is not probably not as versatile has the Naked 2 Palette. However, the reason I had to have it was because the rose shades are so pretty and soft and feminine and great for everyday makeup. Check out my favorite Naked 3 tutorials here!

All of these palettes are great. Great color, great pigment and you can’t go wrong with any of them. However, if you are looking to buy only one palette, I would recommend the Naked 2 palette. It has the widest range of colors and will give you the most versatility.

Which palette do you like best? Is just one enough? Or do you need all three?

26 thoughts on “Which Urban Decay NAKED Palette is Best for You?”

Hi Heather, many thanks for this post-revue it helps a lot. I will get my first naked palet.
As you say.”which one to choose ?” The one that I liked the most were n2, but it si so difficult to choose… as they are very expensive.. better think twice. So your post helped a lot!! ;))

If you’re thinking of buying any of these palletes, you can get almost the exact same ones from a different brand Revolution Iconic Palettes have almost exactly the same hues. They ship from Europe but they’re only like $6-$7!

Hey 🙂 Loved this article but im still stuck on which palette to get. I only wqnt one palette and ive been deciding which to get for a month now. I love the gothic datk style of fashion and i usually only really wear dark eye make up, so which palette do you think i could make good use of? 🙂

Hey Megan, thanks for reading! If you prefer dark colors I would definitely say to stick with the original Naked or the Naked 2 palettes. Naked 3 would probably be too pink and light for you. I would definitely recommend heading into a Sephora or Ulta and play with the palettes and little bit and pick which one you love. If that is not an options, head to Youtube and watch tutorials using Naked and Naked 2 to see which one people are using to get the look you want! Hope this helps!

Just wanted to say thanks for this write up! I was totally stuck in choosing which one to get out of the three, and pictures on websites don’t really help with comparison! I’m going to go for the second one! Your a star!

Sorry to take so long to reply! If I were you I would find someone on Youtube or a blogger doing tutorials that has a similar skin tone to you. If you can only have one, I would probably lean toward Naked 2. The colors are so pretty and universal. But really, you can’t go wrong, they are all gorgeous!

i also really think it depends on your eye color and skin tone(: naked one is more warm tones and naked 2 cool tones then the naked 3 is the rosy pink undertones. I was in sephora buying a naked palette and couldn’t decide and there was a rep for urban decay and she told me naked 3 is best for girls with green eyes(: love this article(:

I have blue eyes, blonde hair and I am fair skinned. I’m stuck on which palette to get. I love the naked 2 and 3, but I want one that will look best with my eye color. Any recommendations on which one will look best?

Sorry to be so late to reply! I always recommend just studying up on the palettes. Find someone on Youtube doing tutorials with looks you like, or with a similar complexion to yourself. Go in the stores and swatch them and see what you love! I think the Naked 3 palette is pretty fabulous because it is really unique and I don’t think there is much out there that is just like it! Hope this helps!

If you prefer matte to shimmer, I don’t know if a Naked palette would be best for you. Maybe check out the Naked Basics or Naked2 Basics. I have also had my eyes on the Tartelette Amazonian Clay matte palette. It is really, really pretty!

hi i am asian (from the Philippine), i have dark brown eyes (almost black) and dark brown hair. I do not have that brown skin type but i am also not really light! Can you help me picking up my ideal palette? Please as fast as you can! I can not decide… The second or the third one! Thank you.

I got way behind on replying! SORRY!!! Did you end up choosing a palette? If you are torn between Naked 2 and Naked 3, I’d probably go with 2. Naked 3 is so pretty, but it is very pink and you just can’t get quite as many looks out of it as you can with Naked 2.

hey! I still don’t know which one I should buy.. I have a fair skin, dark brown hair, and blue eyes. I want to create natural looks, nothing heavy which I can wear to school. Which palette do you recommend for me? I hope you answer! Thanking you in advance x

They are all really nice, and you really can’t go wrong. I think my favorite at the moment (it changes sometimes) is the original Naked palette. The variety of neutral shades is just so pretty and wearable for everyone, and I LOVE all the gold tones. Whichever you pick, I hope you love it!